Dave's story

Fundraiser Dave Borley ran this year’s London Marathon for the 10^th time in aid of the hospital he is helping to rebuild and that saved his son’s life.

Dave, a builder who works on the £1bn redevelopment of Barts and The London Hospitals, has raised more than £50,000 for the Barts and The London Children's Hospital in the past ten years. He took part in this year’s race with his son Harry, aged 21 and together they raised a further £6,000.

Harry was born a month early with his bowel and intestines outside his body and needed an immediate, life-saving operation at the Queen Elizabeth Children’s Hospital (now Barts and The London Children’s Hospital).  

Dave, an ex-Special Forces soldier from Witham, Essex, says: ‘When Harry was born he weighed less than a bag of sugar. He wasn’t even 3lb and needed such specialist care I don’t think he would have survived in another hospital.  

Harry had a rare condition called gastroschisis, which affects just one in 10,000 births. The cause is unknown although it is thought to be linked to a disruption of blood supply during pregnancy.  He underwent a long operation soon after he was born to place the exposed bowel within the abdominal wall.

‘I was there in the morning and still pacing the floor that evening,’ says Dave, 47. ‘Fortunately, the operation went fantastically well.’

Around 90% of babies survive the condition but just 10 years ago, survival rates were much lower. At the time of Harry’s birth very few centres had the expertise to correct the problem.

After the operation, Harry was in hospital for 3 months before being allowed home, and had to be fed through a drip until his intestines were working properly.

Dave, who was in the Army for nine years and served in the Falklands War, says: ‘I’ve seen my share of life and death situations. Yet seeing my son in intensive care was the hardest thing I’ve ever experienced. He was tiny and on ventilation for the first six weeks, surrounded by tubes and wires. It was a pretty traumatic time.’  

In 1998, the children’s service was moved to Barts and The London Children’s Hospital and Harry went there for six-monthly, then yearly check-ups but has suffered no long-term problems.

Ten years ago, Dave decided to start raising money for the hospitals’ Children’s Fund to say thank to the staff who saved his son’s life.

Dave’s employer had a fund for charities and he secured £5,000 from it to buy a London Marathon Gold Bond – which entitles five places in the race for five years – for the Children’s Fund. Since then, the Bond has been renewed and Dave’s team has run every year.